Sojourn of Ben

There are many events that pushed the corporation to the top of the world. Some of which are institutionalization, and corruption. The single most important concepts are brands in which the corporation puts out its products. These brands have been marketed to peak our interest as consumers. The corporation had a revelation that the advertising of the brands under the all-mighty corporation should become more appealing to the public eye. This revelation was caused by a lack of profit under the corporation’s cold, heartless nature. Though some may argue that limited liability is the most important aspect of the corporation’s rise to power, it was the new appealing warm nature of brand names such as AT&T, and General Motors, as well as numerous other brands that have become the rocket fuel that thrusts the corporation to the top of the world.

Limited liability is a term used to explain how a shareholder of a specific stock covers their backside. With limited liability, a shareholder is only responsible for the funds that they invest in a company, according to Joel Bakan, the author of The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. Limited liability sounds pretty important, right? Limited liability alone was not an effective weapon in the arsenal of the corporation. In order to invest in a corporation, an investor would want to be confident in the products the corporation puts out. What stocks would the shareholders be investing in if there were no brands for the corporation to sell? The corporation has become something of a behemoth in the business world, and it is all because of the brands that helped it get there.

One of the ultimate marketing strategies of all time was something that AT&T pulled in 1908. AT&T began adding a warmer more personal feeling to their company by appearing to be one big happy family. One AT&T official believed that it was necessary “to make the people understand and love the company”(Bakan17). The company needed to get its consumers to believe that they could trust and depend on the company, as you would a family member. Soon other brands began to follow in AT&T’s footsteps. Because of this, control was taken out of the shareholders hands, and into the hands of the highest executives.

General Motors described their reform as providing ”family values” to the customer. “Family is personal, human, friendly. This is our picture of General Motors-a big congenial household,” stated the Alfred Swayne, the Executive of Institutional Advertising (Bakan18). This new reform, which was growing quickly among corporations all over North America, was called ”New Capitalism.” New capitalism was used to soften the “cold, impersonal, misunderstood, and distrusting” word “Corporation” (Bakan19). Corporations began to soften their advertising image to fit the needs of the consumer. It’s a lot easier to buy a product from a welcoming company than a heartless one.

Goodyear Tire was one of the first “New Capitalists.” They began to promote health and education to their workers. They also gave the workers chances to voice their opinions. Until the twentieth century that was unheard of. Paul W. Litchfield, who presided over Goodyear Tire formed a workers senate and House of Representatives that had jurisdiction over employment issues, including wages. (Bakan19). “Goodyear has all about her the human quality, and it has been to this human quality fully as much as to her business methods, that Goodyear owes her meteoric rise in the ranks in the American Industry”, says Litchfield (Bakan19).

Newer companies were designing new mascots for their cereal. As my 101 class was sitting in a discussion, we began talking about cereal. We noticed that the mascots that we had grown up seeing were changing to fit the newer generation of consumer. A few of these include Tony the tiger, Lucky the Leprechaun, and the Trix Rabbit. Each was designed to target a specific audience: The youth of America. Tony the Tiger is portrayed as strong. Therefore, Frosted Flakes make you strong. Lucky is constantly evading the children who vigilantly seek out the Leprechaun to try to catch and eat the tasty cereal. This makes it look like Lucky Charms are hard to find and are something to hunt for. The Trix Rabbit has become known for the “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for Kids” slogan. This makes children believe that Trix are indeed for kids, and since they are kids, only they can eat Trix. These subtle marketing techniques are what all these cereals under the corporation do everyday.

Wal*Mart is another prime example of perfect marketing strategy. They have convinced the public that they are providing our families with the lowest possible prices. Always. Their mascot is a giant smiley face that sometimes has hands, and occasionally helps restock the shelves or even bump a few prices down for us. Doesn’t that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? What an awesome little smiley face. Even though most of your products are made in sweatshops in third-world countries around the world, you just keep on smiling. Always.
It’s incredible how we as a public look at the mascots of a brand, and fall for them hook, line, and sinker. We notice when the company changes the mascot due to the change in their audiences taste. The corporation is not the only driving force behind what they do as a corporation. The corporation is legally bound to do what is in the shareholders best interests (Bakan37). The public fills the pockets of the corporation, and therefore fills the pockets of the shareholders so they can change the mascot every time the youth of America changes.

Under the corporation, the brand name has become a household name. Companies such as AT&T, GM, and the cereal brands have all reformed the marketing strategies and techniques to fit our needs as the consumer. This is why they are coming out with newer fuel-efficient cars, tastier cereals, and more advanced technology to record everything you could imagine. You are the customer, and they look to you to buy their products, wear their clothes, and eat their food. The Corporation mandates or tries to mandate every aspect of our lives. The Brands that we live with are on our clothes, our food, and, worst of all, our minds. The Corporation has used the brands as devices for figuring out the public. They hold focus groups to get into the psychological aspect of our buying habits. There are people whose job it is to figure out which flavor you would prefer for your toothpaste: Lemon or Mint? They have figured out what smells entice the public, what colors are more visually appealing to customers, and what music we’ll buy more to. The brand names today bring in more money than they could have ever imagined at AT&T in 1908. The brand names today are playing a game of chess with the consumers of America. Figuring out the subtle techniques to get us to buy more, or to buy less of a competitor’s product is the move that the corporation has chosen. Now it’s your move.

A legal mandate exists that binds a corporation to its shareholders. This legal mandate assures that a company is operating with its shareholders’ best interest in mind (Bakan37). No matter hat the consequences, the corporation has to use the shareholders’ money to pursue profit over everything else. These consequences not only affect the corporations, but the public as well. The effects of subliminal advertising are to say the least astonishing. The corporation uses these subtle techniques to persuade the public into buying their products. Subliminal advertising has the biggest risk and social implication of a legal mandate that binds the corporation’s best interest to the shareholders’ profit. The Subliminal advertising carries biggest social implications because of the affect the technique has on the psyche of the consumer. Subtle techniques such as the “nag factor,” names, and marketing techniques are used to pull people’s minds in a hundred directions everyday.

Subliminal advertising, by definition is “the use by advertisers of images and sounds to influence consumers' responses without their being conscious of it” (“Subliminal Advertising”). The best form of advertising is often subliminal. Subtle images are placed in front of society every day. A person walks out of their house, and they might see people wearing a certain brand of clothing. They might think, “I might want to buy some of that clothing.” From there, this person goes to the store. In the windows of the neighboring building, there are advertisements for a certain kind of laundry detergent. By the time they get to the store, they have already been subconsciously persuaded to buy a certain kind of laundry detergent. They go to a bar, and overhear people talking loudly about a drink; soon everybody’s going to be drinking that drink. Most of these techniques are called undercover advertising. The people who are talking loudly are working for the company that makes the drink. The people wearing the clothes are paid to wear those clothes. “By the time you go to bed you’ve probably received eight or nine undercover messages” (bakan132). These are the subtle ways that the advertisers get your mind hooked on their product before you even know about it.

Some people might argue that privatization would have the biggest social implications from the legal mandate that binds the corporation to its shareholders. Privatization is a process in which the government “hands over control of institutions once thought to be inherently “public” in nature (Bakan113). Privatization would affect every known “public” service. The firefighters wouldn’t come to anyone’s house unless they could pay them to put out their house. People would be charged for the source of all life: water. Imagine a world where we all need to pay to stay alive. “Public” sidewalks are now running through private property. Disney Land has created a town where apparently, every family goes to be perfect. Disney has put a “public” feeling into their privately owned property (The Corporation (2003-2004)). This allows Disney to market their products anywhere they want in this “town.” Corporations are even trying to privatize the school systems. The Edison school systems are the largest Education Management Organization (EMO) schools in the United States (Bakan114). This beats the path for the subliminal advertising directed toward every aspect of our lives. If the sidewalk goes through private property, what’s to stop the company from putting advertisements on the sidewalk? What’s going to stop the corporations from advertising in our parks and our water sources? What’s to stop the corporation from manipulating our children?

Children have become the new frontier in advertising. Advertisers have been using what has become known as the “nag factor,” a child’s ability to nag their parents to buy a product, on the youth of America. “Kids are amazing when they watch TV, they’re paying attention to the advertising…how many people pay attention to the advertising? Among parents it’s probably quite thin, quite small”(Bakan121). Ad designers are realizing a child’s want for a product could be enough to move it. This also allows for the ads they are designing to navigate around ad savvy parents. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that children who are around ages 8 and under are “unable to distinguish advertising from regular television programming” (Bakan122). This means that children 8 and under cannot understand what is being sold to them, only that they like what they see, so they have to have it. Children also believe that what the advertisement claims to be true. If they see a toy flying, they will believe that that toy can fly. Children have been described as “tomorrows consumers.” This makes them “fair game” in the eyes of the corporation. The corporation explains that “the fate of entire corporate empires could depend on marketers’ ability to get children to nag their parents effectively” (Bakan120). Not only does this affect the child, but the parents as well. Parents who end up giving in to the “nag factor” are being influenced through the minds of their children. They are spending valuable money that could be going toward their kid’s college fund on a Barbie Dream House because “Ken and Barbie need a place to live together and have children and have their own family.”

Some companies use their name as a crutch to lean on most of the time. The corporation depends on society to use that crutch as well. Most people believe that a company’s slogan represents who they are, and what they stand for. Take Beyond Petroleum (BP) as an example. This company had become one of the only “green” oil companies. Their CEO, John Browne, has set up the first “eco-friendly” system there is (Bakan40). However, the legal mandate holds Browne by law to hold his shareholder’s profits over anything else. This might be why Browne has refused to stop bidding on a drill site in Alaska. There are herds of Caribou that feed the tribes and villages of central Alaska. It is feared that drilling for oil in Alaska may upset the migration of the Caribou herd, and therefore take away the food source of the tribes and villages (Bakan43). However good John Browne's intentions are, if he refused to drill in Alaska, he would be held legally responsible for his actions. He would be responsible for the billions BP would make by drilling in Alaska.

Subliminal advertising is a danger to society. The corporations are messing with children’s minds as well as ours. What kind of world do we live in where people need to trick us into buying their products? The corporation has stooped low enough to use our own minds against us to commercialize everything we see; all for the interest of the shareholders. We can’t walk down the street without seeing a billboard. We can’t watch a baseball game without being bombarded with sponsors trying to sell us their stuff. The affects of subliminal advertising on the delicate human psyche are being seen though. Until the day comes when the public is able to turn their brains off to subliminal advertising, we’re just going to continue to be taken advantage of.

Works Cited
The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. Dir. Achbar, Mike. Perf. Jane Akre, Ray Anderson, Maude Barlow, Chris Barnett. Big Picture Media Corporation. 2003-2004

Bakan, Joel. The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. Free Press. 1230 Avenue of the Americas. New York, NY 10020. 2004.

“Subliminal Advertising.” New Oxford American Dictionary. 2008.